From the Trends tab on Google Reader:
From your 98 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 1,522 items, starred 51 items, shared 842 items, and emailed 0 items.
The weather sucks this morning. Last night we had freezing rain and it's supposed to continue all day today, turning into snow tomorrow. My commute usually isn't bad, but I can imagine today might be lengthy.
I stopped listening to local radio years ago, preferring music or for a bit XM radio (which was OK for a while, but didn't really pan out for me). But a few months ago I started trying out listening to podcasts on my daily drive into work and now I'm hooked. Here are some that I'd recommend.
Blueshift
Blueshift is produced by the Astrophysics Science Division at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. There are only five episodes so far and they're spotty about releasing new ones, roughly once a month. The topics are very interesting though if you enjoy astronomy.
Game Theory
I haven't listened to this one for very long. I came across it while searching for a podcast on gaming news. Why doesn't anyone produce a 30-45 minute podcast on the gaming news of the week without all the extra "morning show" fluff? Well, this one comes pretty close, though it's more Euro-centric. Several of the hosts also appear on the PCG Podcast.
GameSpot Presents the HotSpot
A weekly podcast produced by CNet's Hotspot, now infamous for the firing of Jeff Gerstmann. This podcast is much more centered on console games than PC games, but other than the "morning show"-like atmosphere, it's a pretty decent podcast about gaming.
NPR: Movies
I'm close to unsubscribing to this podcast. It's a conglomeration of broadcasts about select movies, including the most annoying movie reviewer on the planet. They have interviews with directors and actors that are pretty interesting sometimes, but that's about all it has going for it.
PC Gamer Podcast
The official podcast of PC Gamer magazine, the podcast focuses more on PC games than console game, although they do talk about consoles a bit. It's a decent podcast. Occasionally they also have guests from Maximum PC magazine as well. They're pretty good at providing news, reviews, and general gossip in the games industry weekly.
Point of Inquiry
I have just started listening to this podcast, so I have no real comment as of yet. The guest lists include Richard Dawkins, Neil deGrasse Tyson (seriously, I could squeal every time I hear him speak), Steven Pinker, and Christopher Hitchens. The official description looks good though.
Point of Inquiry is hosted by DJ Grothe and produced at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, NY.CFI, a think-tank collaborating with the State University of New York on the new Science and the Public Masters Program, is devoted to promoting science, reason, and freedom of inquiry in every field of human interest.
RPG Land
This podcast only has five episodes so far and is badly in need of better sound equipment. Even so, they talk about the games I love the most (RPGs) and their reviews are really comprehensive. I hope going forward they concentrate more on the reviews than other parts of the show they've experimented with.
Science Talk: The Podcast of Scientific American
The podcast is hosted by Steve Mirsky, an articles editor and columnist at Scientific American. It's a pretty decent general science podcast with some emphasis on skepticism.
Skepticality: The Official Podcast of Skeptic's Magazine
Although I wrote an "angry" letter to Randy Olson over an episode of this podcast, it's still a great podcast. Even his interview was very good other than that one issue. Derek and Swoopy, the hosts, talk with scientists, skeptics, authors, and others within the rationalist movement.
The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe
This is my favorite podcast by far. This podcast is sponsored by the New England Skeptical Society, the James Randi Foundation, and Skepchick.org. They've been podcasting for a while and it shows. The episodes are always put together well and the hosts have a great rapport that comes across as fun and casual without being overdone. Other than talking about current news, they interview scientists, skeptics, musicians, and even a former President.
Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena
This podcast is a one-man show hosted by Brian DenningDunning. He takes on pseudoscience, the paranormal, and religion with critical thinking and rationalism. The podcasts are generally short (10-15 minutes), but packed with good arguments.
Twango: Big Heathen Mike's public channel
Big Heathen Mike's blog, Mike's Weekly Skeptic Rant is great. I haven't listened to these podcasts yet, but I'm looking forward to them.
WebbAlert
I try to watch these on my computer in the evening. It's a daily video podcast hosted by G4TechTv's Morgan Webb about the latest news in technology. They're about 6-7 minutes long. Just long enough to get my dose of tech without zoning out.
Today is my third wedding anniversary. Three years isn't all that long, I know, but I feel happy when I think about it. It'll be eight years in the Spring since we first started dating. Sometimes it's hard to remember my life before Matt and sometimes it seems like it's been too short of a time. That may be cliche, but it's true.
There was a long time we debated whether or not to get married. My reasons were probably a little different than Matt's. For both of us, we felt that we were committed to each other and we didn't need anyone sanctioning our relationship. For me, I also didn't like the religious connotations to marriage. I wanted to have a religion-free marriage (though I still didn't call myself an atheist), but I didn't want to impose a bunch of hard line rules on a ceremony. In the end we eloped without friends or family, celebrating together.
We were unconventional. We both wore jeans (though mine were under my dress). It snowed and we were 30 minutes late getting to the courthouse. We saw a bad movie afterwards and were chased out into the cold by fire alarms and burning popcorn. It was perfect.
Friends and family mean a lot to us and I still feel a little selfish about wanting something just for us. But in the end I wouldn't want it to be different. And we got to surprise people with pictures and stories when we visited a few weeks later for the holidays.
I'm incredibly lucky. My husband and I have a great relationship. Sure, we fight occasionally, but it's not often. We agree more often than we don't and most importantly we're not petty. We try to understand each other rather than jump to conclusions.
We still say, "I love you," several times a day and we still kiss and hug a lot too. It's hard to be distant emotionally from someone you're close to physically. It's not the giddy feeling most of the time anymore, but it's a more comfortable, deeper form of affection.
I feel most lucky because I've found someone that loves me through even the rough patches and always supports me. I've always been independent because I didn't want to rely on someone. If I only ever relied on myself then I couldn't be disappointed. But it makes life so much more limiting to be that way. I'm glad that I found someone I can depend on. I admire him for the person he is.
My husband doesn't read my blog and probably will never read this, but I wanted to say it anyway. I've tried to express in words how much he means to me countless times, and it always falls short. But I think he knows.
